Built a home for myself and my cat, but... "Our Catwalk" is a mix of satisfaction and regret.

I wanted to build a house where both humans and cats could live comfortably. As I lived with my beloved cat in an apartment, I started to think this way. About seven years ago, I built a custom-made house with many features designed for cats to live comfortably. I even installed a catwalk, which I had always dreamed of, inside the house, and I was thrilled.

However, after actually living there, even with the carefully planned catwalk, some regrets emerged, making me wish I had done things differently. This time, I will openly share the story of my home's catwalk, which is a mix of satisfaction and regret.

Perfect escape prevention measures! A catwalk easy for even clumsy cats to use

In our house, there's a catwalk and cat steps in the living room, allowing the cats to go all the way around the room.

Initially, I wanted to have it go all the way around the LDK. However, during the house design, the architect told me that "installing a catwalk in the kitchen is dangerous and unsanitary," and I agreed with that. In the end, we only installed a catwalk and cat steps in the living room.

The living room catwalk continues to the second floor, so my cats can go to their room on the second floor through a cat-only open ceiling without having to go through the hallway.

People often say, "You're crazy to make an open ceiling just for cats," but as a cat owner, I'm very satisfied that it turned out to be an innovative escape prevention measure. It's not a full open ceiling, so it's not cold. In fact, it's the spirit of "I'm a wonderful cat lover for being so devoted to my cats!"

The largest catwalk in our house is in the middle of the living room. Visitors instinctively look up and say, "Wow..." Every time they're surprised, I actually let out an awkward, embarrassed chuckle.

Compared to standard spacing, our cat steps are placed closer together. This is because one of our cats is a bit clumsy.

Jiji is a long-legged Munchkin, but his legs are still shorter than those of typical cats, so his athleticism is... (self-censored). However, like a cat, he loves high places, so I asked the architect to narrow the spacing between the steps so he could climb safely without injury.

The meticulously designed catwalk seems to be loved by our cats. They sometimes diligently supervise their human servants, and without fail, every night, a frantic cat race takes place on the catwalk.

Perhaps this frantic running is like humans running on a treadmill... Thinking this, the evenings spent watching my beloved cats' activities while enjoying tea are lively and enjoyable. 

The dream of a glass or acrylic catwalk vanished

However, no matter how much effort you put in, there are always regrets that only become apparent after living there. In our case, unfortunately, there are many regrets. The biggest regret of all is not being able to make the longest catwalk in the center of the living room out of glass or acrylic.

Making such a long catwalk out of glass or acrylic raised concerns about durability and the cost was too high, so we reluctantly gave up on that idea. We ended up with white painted wood suspended by iron, but even after all these years, I can't let go of "that dream."

"That dream" is... yes, the longing of cat owners everywhere to "admire the paw pads of our beloved cats from underneath the catwalk." With a white wooden catwalk, you can't see anything if you look up from below, and they just give you a look that says, "Huh? What's up, human servant?"

Another regret that accumulated after living here is that I wish I had installed a few more catwalks to connect the long catwalk by the window with the catwalk in the center of the living room.

For some reason, there are times when cats just suddenly feel like "I want to run wild on the catwalk right now." These moments, strangely enough, often coincide, leading to traffic jams on the catwalk.

During the design phase, we made sure there were two places for them to go up and down to prevent traffic jams when climbing, but providing a detour catwalk was a blind spot...

Now, financially, it would be difficult to add a long catwalk, so every day I tell my cats, "Let's live cherishing the spirit of cooperation." (But they don't listen.)

Insufficient consideration for temporary resting spots and old age

There are still more regrets about what I wish I had done differently. For example, not installing boxes on the catwalk. Even as it is, our cats do relax on the catwalk, but as a human, it makes me nervous to think, "Won't they fall if they sleep there?"

I'm constantly regretting not having provided boxes on the catwalk where my cats could temporarily rest. It would prevent falls and allow them to use the space more freely.

Also, although it might have been financially challenging, I now wish I had made the cat steps removable so that their height could be adjusted as my cats get older.

I tried my best to build a house for them, but if they could speak, I feel like they would scold me, saying, "You don't understand cats at all." With that thought, I spend my days watching my cats run wild on the catwalk, a mix of satisfaction and regret.